Tag Archives: manuals

In fact, I’ve regularly published PC Engine-focused posts on my other, more general, gaming blog, The Gay Gamer, since I stopped doing so here late last year.

Sorry, I’m only telling you about it now. I would have done so sooner, but I honestly thought I’d continue to publish posts on this blog for some time to come.

Trying to maintain two blogs at once, though, has become more than I can handle, so I’ve decided to put all of my energy into The Gay Gamer, which not only regularly features posts about the PC Engine and its games but also features posts about pretty much every other “retro”–as well as current–game system under the sun.

Don’t believe me that the PC Engine gets plenty of attention on my other blog? Here are just a few recent examples:

I’m sure some of you will balk at visiting The Gay Gamer because of its name. Just know that it welcomes people of all colors, genders and sexual orientations and that a good percentage of the folks who visit and comment on the site are not, in fact, members of the LGBT community.

Anyway, I sincerely hope some of you will check it out at some point, especially if you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read here. And if not? Thank you for supporting this blog during its far-too-short (in my opinion) existence. I’ve greatly appreciate it.

I’ve voiced my dissatisfaction with the gameplay featured in Namcot’s horizontal shmup, Barunba, before (in this post, for example), but what I haven’t expressed previously, as far as I’m aware, is my fondness for that much-maligned HuCard’s instruction manual.

That fondness begins, of course, with said instruction manual’s cover image (below, right), which shows Barunba‘s always-grinning protagonist gunning his way through a plethora of what appear to be crimson-tinged baddies.

I have to admit, I originally thought the protagonist was piloting his bubble-shaped ship through the innards of another human being, a la Psygnosis’ Microcosm. (I didn’t realize the red blobs in the background were the exteriors of a couple of creatures rather than their interiors, obviously.)

Anyway, the manual’s first two pages can be seen below. I’m guessing they detail the main character’s (and his ship’s) colorful back story, or something like that.

The next pages, on the other hand, seem to describe the many components of the game’s globe-shaped ship.

Barunba‘s main madman is exposed in the next set of pages. Who’s that brute behind him? It’s unlikely I’ll ever find out, as I find the game as boring as unadorned oatmeal.

Speaking of boring, you may as well skip the manual’s next few pages. Thankfully, they’re the only yawn-inducing ones.

You know, if Barunba‘s in-game sprites even partially resembled the illustrations shared on the following pages it would be a far more interesting experience, in my opinion. But would it be a more enjoyable one? Probably not.

Alas, these are the manual’s last few pages. They wrap things up on a high note, though, thanks in large part to that image on the right, which shows the game’s protagonist (what is his name, anyway?) battling a boss who looks as though he could be related to Metroid‘s Ridley.

So, there you have it: Ample evidence that just because a game sucks its instruction manual doesn’t have to follow suit.

Note: This post will soon be published on my general gaming blog as part of that site’s “Manual Stimulation” (ha ha) series. Don’t worry, any future installments that relate to the PC Engine will be published here first.

Remember how I said (in this post) that I was going to buy copies of J.B. Harold Murder Club and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiegoat some point? Well, I did–shortly after publishing that post, in fact–and both games arrived on my doorstep a few days ago.

My favorite part of this two-piece package: The embossed, leather(ish)-bound “Investigate Note” book that came with the copy of J.B. Harold Murder Club.

Here’s the front cover of said book:

And here’s the back:

As is usually the case with such things, I can’t understand a word of what’s written in this more-than-a-manual. That’s OK, though, because the game itself is completely understandable (thanks to its English language option).

Here’s something I didn’t know about Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair before my copy of the game arrived a few days ago: In lieu of a traditional instructional manual, it comes with a 10-inch-by-14-inch piece of paper that’s been folded into a square.

The front side of said piece of paper is a poster:

The back side, on the other hand, contains all of the instructional stuff: